The present invention relates to power-operated rakes and similar implements, and more specifically of rakes of the type adapted to extend laterally from and rake in a direction laterally of a tractor to which the rake is attached.
In many agricultural applications, notably the keeping of orchards, it is desirable to remove prunings, dead brush and weeds, fallen limbs, etc., from locations which are inaccessible to tractors or other conventional powered equipment. A great deal of labor is required for the manual removal of such materials in large orchards. In most commercial scale fruit orchards the trees are planted in hedgerows which are spaced widely enough to allow a tractor to travel between rows, but not between the trees in a given row.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide novel and improved powered rake apparatus for removing brush and the like from areas in which access by conventional powered equipment is difficult.
Another object is to provide raking apparatus wherein elongated tines travel in an endless path along upper and lower runs and are moved by gravity between folded and extended positions when traveling along the upper and lower runs, respectively.
A further object is to provide raking apparatus for attachment to a tractor which supplies power for moving rake tines along an endless path and also for moving the apparatus to various positions relative to the tractor.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.